sentimentalist

Heart over head

A sentimentalist is someone who indulges in or is ruled by sentiment—particularly tender or nostalgic feeling—often to excess.

The term usually carries a critical edge, suggesting emotional responses that are shallow, performative, or disconnected from practical reality: He dismissed her as a hopeless sentimentalist who couldn't make hard decisions.

A sentimentalist may prize feeling over reason or cling to idealized views of the past.

emotional

tender

Soft or sore

weepyInclined to cry
maudlinExcessively tearful sentiment
tearfulProne to weeping

soft-hearted · melodramatic · overwrought · gushing · effusive · lachrymose · schmaltzy · mushy · soppy · treacly

idealistic

dreamer

One given to fantasies

idealistPursuer of noble principles
optimistHabitually hopeful person
utopianImpractically perfect in conception

naive · quixotic · impractical · starry-eyed · wide-eyed · bleeding-heart · do-gooder · romantic · wishful · unrealistic

nostalgic

wistful

Sadly longing for something

yearningIntense prolonged craving
longingIntense, persistent desire
reminiscentTending to recall

backward-looking · sepia-toned · misty-eyed · bittersweet · homesick · pining · elegiac · retrospective · rose-tinted · traditionalist

romantic

lovelorn

Unhappy due to unreturned affection

lovesickPining from romantic longing
starry-eyedNaively romantic or idealistic
moonstruckMentally addled by infatuation

swooning · pining · infatuated · devoted · ardent · amorous · besotted · heartsick · languishing · enamored

sentimentalist

tender

dreamer

wistful

lovelorn

sentimentalist

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